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ephemeral nightmare (proof of concept video)

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This is a proof of concept I made to test out a project idea I’ve had for a little while, sort of similar to my Ephemera Mashup. The main inspiration for this came to me awhile ago, when I was in a bar downtown that was silently playing Mondo Hollywood on TVs. That film, without sound, is a collection of images that are strange but also good, and I thought it would be fun and cool to collect films from the Internet Archive, and cut together something of my own.

The idea with this particular proof was to create something that was a little creepy and slightly off, that could be projected onto the wall at a warehouse party, without sound, as background art. I ended up with something that works with or without sound, and (I think) rewards varying levels of attention. In fact, I rendered the audio only, and put it on my Soundcloud, because I think it’s cool and weird all on its own.

So, to make this, I grabbed a bunch of public domain footage from the Internet Archive, and cut it all up. Then I tossed it into iMovie and applied some filters. I modified the audio in Audacity, and mixed in some other audio that I also created in Audacity by modifying other public domain works. If I like it, and feel that it was worth the time, I’ll make some more like this that actually have more deliberate cuts and choices in the content. At the moment, this is primarily clips that I eyeballed, thought were interesting, and tossed into the edit timeline.

I got sort of fascinated by some old burlesque and stag footage that I found at the Archive, so that’s in here, and may offend those with sensitive dispositions.

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27 October, 2015 Wil

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15 thoughts on “ephemeral nightmare (proof of concept video)”

  1. Kai Lübbe says:
    27 October, 2015 at 11:01 am

    Burroughs would approve.
    ☺

  2. Angry Librarian (@AngryLibrarian) says:
    27 October, 2015 at 11:40 am

    Awesome. I totally make these all the time

  3. Dan McC says:
    27 October, 2015 at 11:42 am

    Cool. I love the soundtrack. Very reminiscent of People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett).

  4. Lance A. Brown says:
    27 October, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    It moves in strange directions. I like it!

  5. David Saks says:
    27 October, 2015 at 12:40 pm

    Betty Page dancing was hot memory. Synchronized tap dancers or water ballet sisters would have been interesting subjects as alternatives to brother mice in the vitamin deficiency experiment segment.

  6. Cyn Hanrahan McCollum says:
    27 October, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    I noticed Betty Page right away, too. And Wil, you are one seriously weird mofo. This was artistic and creeped me out. We should have a beer sometime, compare art.

  7. Katharine Stevens McCann says:
    27 October, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Nice job! I think it checks all the boxes — artsy, fascinating, slightly creepy.

  8. Brian Hendricks (@day_off_ales) says:
    27 October, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    Nice work, it’s got a creepy Bioshock x Clockwork Orange x The Dharma initiative thing going on for me.

  9. chrisjurdzis says:
    27 October, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    reminds me of playing through bioshock

  10. KenLG says:
    27 October, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    You and Kris Straub should collaborate. 🙂

    http://studios.chainsawsuit.com/

  11. Bruce says:
    27 October, 2015 at 5:38 pm

    I keep hearing They might be Giants song “Experimental Film” when i watch this. grin

  12. karen naylor says:
    27 October, 2015 at 6:25 pm

    I LIKED YOUR VIDEO. EVEN RECOGNIZED SOME OF THE OLD MOVIE CLIPS IF NOT THE TITLES, LAUGHED WHEN I SAW WHAT YOU APOLOGIZED FOR AND WAS FASCINATED BY YOUR VIDEO SO WENT ON TO WATCH SOME OF THE OTHER VIDEOS. I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN ON HIGH GROUND AS A CHILD WATCHING A FLOOD SWEEP THROUGH AND DESTROY A CALIFORNIA TOWN AFTER A DAM BROKE, AND SEEN A FLOOD LIKE THE KIND IN YOUR VIDEO WHEN I WAS IN THE AIR FORCE SO THAT PART CREEPED ME WITH FLASHBACKS. THE ATOM BOMB AT THE BEGINNING WAS FITTING.

  13. howardhoyt says:
    27 October, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    Wil, Thta was seriously sick and fun! I think you would enjoy the music of Popol Vuh; they did the soundtracks for Werner Hertzog’s movies and it is spellbinding…check out the soundtrack from Aguirre the Wrath of God sometime…hell the movie is great if you hadn’t seen it…

    1. howardhoyt says:
      27 October, 2015 at 8:46 pm

      I forgot to link the vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdeIN3sYcfk

  14. Nancy says:
    29 October, 2015 at 5:24 pm

    OMG, Will, this is the stuff of my nightmares! Donnie Darko on pcp came to mind and it just totally creeped me out. Wow. But that’s okay … I hadn’t planned to sleep for another week or so, anyway. 0_o

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